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Thursday's news and tips

Created:

22 July 2010

Written by:

ShareCast

■ Tate & Lyle said it has made a sound start to the year and continues to anticipate progress in the current full year.

■ Outsourcing giant Capita said pressures on public spending may affect growth in the short term but it is confident its ability to deliver cost efficiencies will stand it in good stead.

■ Sports Direct, owner of Sports World stores and Slazenger and Dunlop brands, posted a 50 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profit, in line with expectations, and predicted more growth in 2010-2011.

■ Imperial Tobacco said cigarette volumes for the nine months to June were down 4.3 per cent as a result of market declines in Spain, USA, Russia and Ukraine being only partly offset by gains in Central Europe.

■ Spanish bank Santander is reportedly planning a listing of its UK operations on the London Stock Exchange in move that could raise up to £3bn.

■ The World Cup was a mixed blessing for pub group Mitchells & Butlers, which saw like-for-like sales rise by 1.2 per cent from the same period a year ago in the nine weeks to 17 July, but blamed the football for slower food sales growth.

■ Autonomy, a heavy hitter in the corporate software world, delivered record first half profits and revenues, with the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business the main driver of growth.

■ DIY retailer Kingfisher, which owns the B&Q chain in the UK, reported a small drop in like-for-like sales in the 10 weeks to 10 July, but said half year profits remain on track.

■ Energy provider Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) is on course to deliver expected dividend growth, despite operating in a challenging environment.

■ Pearson, which publishes the Financial Times and textbooks, is to acquire the school support operations of Brazilian education group Sistema Educacional Brasileiro for R$888m (£326m).

■ Emerging markets lender International Personal Finance posted a three fold increase in first half profit and is confident it will deliver further growth in the second half.

■ South African platinum miner Lonmin saw output from its underground mining operations increase quarter-on-quarter in the April to June period.

■ Business communications specialist Colt Group said its chief operating officer, Tony Bates, is to step down at the end of July.

■ Waste management firm Shanks said trading has been in line with expectations in the quarter to 30 June 2010 and is set to meet full year expectations.

■ Meatpacker Hilton Food said shoppers may be splashing out on more expensive meats as it reported trading in line with expectations in the 28 weeks to July 18.

■ London focused property company Great Portland Estates said growth in London's property investment markets slowed in the second quarter of 2010.

■ Faroe Petroleum gushed to a two-year high Thursday after finding more oil, this time with well 6406/3-8 T2 on the Maria prospect in the Norwegian Sea.

■ Stockbroker Daniel Stewart has dismissed rumours that it is looking to raise more money.

■ Karelian Diamond Resources tripled at one stage after Rio Tinto agreed to hand over confidential information and physical geological samples relating to exploration in Finland.

■ The Weather Lottery's (TWL) expansion into online gaming continued to excite investors Thursday as the firm signed another partnership contract with a big football club.

■ The UK government's cancellation of a £750m e-Borders contract with prime contractor Raytheon Systems will have a knock-on effect on Serco and QinetiQ.

■ The death of Poland’s president and elections in Colombia were among the factors brewer SABMiller cited as it reported a 1 per cent fall in lager volumes in the three months to June 30 from the same period a year ago.

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NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS (22 JULY 2010):

PRESS HEADLINES

Santander is gearing up to list its UK operations on the London Stock Exchange as soon as this autumn in a deal that could raise an estimated £3bn (€3.5bn) to fund growth by the acquisitive Spanish bank. The group, which is on the verge of buying a portfolio of 318 UK branches from RBS, needs the money to fund that deal, following a spate of other acquisitions – most recently the €555m (£467m) purchase of 173 branches in Germany from Sweden's SEB, says the FT.

Reckitt Benckiser could offload the Scholl footwear business if it wins control of SSL International with a £2.54 billion takeover bid, writes the Times.

The chairman of Vodafone is under pressure from shareholders unhappy with the company's performance and the executive team's management of its global assets. Sir John Bond, the former HSBC chairman, was parachuted into the world's biggest mobile operator in 2006 to soothe investor concerns over the expansion strategy of Arun Sarin, then chief executive, reports the Times.

BP has denied reports that chief executive Tony Hayward is to step down, as the company prepares to sell off assets to pay for the oil spill clean-up, according to the Telegraph.

The FT adds that BP's Bob Dudley has said that the company’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico "will change the industry forever". That is not quite how other companies see it. There is no doubt it has long-lasting ramifications for BP and the US government, whose lax regulators are seen as having contributed to the disaster. But around the world, from Norway to Australia and among BP's peers, remarkably little has changed, at least on the side of prevention.

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, warned of "unusually uncertain" prospects and a "somewhat weaker outlook" for the US economy in comments that sent American investors running for cover, says the Telegraph.

The London cocoa exchange yesterday cleared traders of "abusive behaviour" after prices last week hit a 33-year high of £2,732 per tonne. Cocoa processors across the global industry complained that the price was being hiked by "speculation" after Armajaro – a commodities hedge fund – earlier this month took delivery of an eye-watering 240,000 tonnes of beans, writes the Independent.

Lord Black of Crossharbour walked out of a Florida prison last night in his greatest victory yet in the legal struggle he calls "the fight of my life". Black, who was sentenced to a term of six and a half years in 2007 for defrauding investors in his newspaper empire, left the Coleman Correctional Institute after just 870 days to be reunited with Lady Black, the newspaper columnist Barbara Amiel, reports the Times.

Another long-standing British food company may be about to go under the hammer, as the private equity owners of United Biscuits put out feelers to investment banks over a sale that could reach £2bn. Blackstone and PAI Partners are trawling for advisers on the sale of the group which owns a host of favourite brands including McVitie's, Hula Hoops and KP Nuts, according to the Independent.